Oatmeal Carmelitas

We had a few friends over yesterday for a traditional Memorial Day barbecue, which of course always means good food!

Too much good food. I think I'm still stuffed this morning.

Regardless, I made dessert from this great cookbook. You can't go wrong with a recipe from this book, as each recipe has been a winner at some point in the annual Pillsbury Bake-Offs. This one was the winner way back in 1967!

Long time ago, but still a great recipe.

Oatmeal Carmelitas

Base: 2 cups flour, 2 cups oats, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 1 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 1 1/4 c. butter, softened

Filling: 1 jar caramel topping, 3 T. flour, 1 c. chocolate chips, 1/2 chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 pan. In large bowl, beat all base ingredients on low speed until crumbly. Reserve half of mixture for topping and press remaining crumb mixture in bottom of pan.

Bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile in a small bowl, mix caramel topping with 3 T. flour.

Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips over partially baked base. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture, then sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake another 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely for an hour, then place in fridge for another 1-2 hours until filling is set. Remove from fridge and store in a tightly covered container.

There you have it - oatmeal carmelitas! Fun to say, right?

Well, I'm off to spend the day in the kitchen and outside as the high is 87! Hopefully everyone is recovering from yesterday...